There was a great turnout of 46 Spartans, 21 women and 25 men, for the first cross country league race of the season. The Sunday league launched with a three lap, approximately five miles race mostly on grass at Cheshunt.
Three Spartans – SIMON JACKSON 10th in 28:58; GRANT RAMSAY 25th in 29:45 and CHRIS WESTCOTT 38th in 30:40 scored top 50 finishes.
GAIL MACKIE had a tremendous run 110th overall (men and women) in 33 minutes 29 seconds and new FVS member ELLA-MAY HARDS was 116th in 33:40.
Teams consisted of eight men or five women. The men’s “A” team was completed by MARTIN BLACKBURN 59th in 31:37; ADRIAN BUSOLINI 61st in 31:41; DAN HUKIN 75th in 31:51; STUART ARCHER 77th in 31:53 and BRIAN WHITE 169th in 35:54.
ALISON WOOD 130th in 34:26; YUKO GORDON 203rd in 37:10 and RHIANNON GRIFFIN 261st in 39:59 made up the rest of the famous Fairlands five women’s team with GEORGIE HOOPER leading in the “B” team at 301st in 41:18.
The second cross country league race for the 2019/2020 will be in Trent Park on Sunday 1st December. The county cross country championships will be in Stevenage on 5th January.
Tremendous Tanya
Tremendous TANYA BRAZIER ran a massive new personal best (PB) at Sunday’s Hertfordshire Riverside Half Marathon. She improved by more than 12 minutes to 1 hour 37 minutes 46 seconds.
She said it was a bit of both path and grass trail. Starting at the Lee Valley Centre and went along the river so no traffic and was good fast and flat.
Don’t Miss Out – The Stevenage Half Marathon Is Filling Up
The town’s half marathon will be on Sunday 3rd November so you can run 13.1 miles in Stevenage. It’s been organised by Fairlands Valley Spartans since 1984. More than 400 people had already entered by Sunday 20th October. Three quarters of the available places have gone. The two lap route, including alongside the lakes in Fairlands Valley Park, follows the town’s famous cycleways and tarmac footpaths with the finish on Ridlins Athletics Track.
All proceeds from the Stevenage Half go to charity. This is a community event organised by a voluntary local running club. The charity for 2019 is Mind, the mental health charity.
On line entries are possible via https://www.activetrainingworld.co.uk/events/2019/11/03/Stevenagehalf. Entries will close on 31st October.
Train with the Spartans for the 13.1 miles event. You can run with the club on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays and get discounts on many race entries together with the club’s free events. Have a look at www.fvspartans.org.uk
Abingdon Marathon
John travelled to Oxfordshire Sunday to run the Abingdon marathon. A fast flat course with about 500 runners and an amazingly supportive team of marshals helped him finish in 4:01. 71 done. 29 to go. Watch this space for updates on his planned 100 marathons celebration for summer / autumn 2020.
York Marathon
He was just about out on his feet, not helped by the rain, at the finish of the York Marathon but ROGER BIGGS was pleased to sneak under six hours with 5:57:10.
Great South Run
The day was set for thousands of runners with perfect running conditions to run the 30th anniversary Great South Run in Portsmouth says SAM SIMMONS.
He ran a course personal best (PB) by 13 minutes and a 10 mile distance PB by 4 and half minutes. During the race he managed to fly through the 10k to go my fastest time and carry on to finish with 1:22.05. That rounded off a perfect day for such a great event.
JONATHAN JONES finished in 1:35:34.
Endurancelife Coastal Half Marathon
GEORGIE HOOPER and NICK GILL ran the Endurancelife Sussex coastal ‘half’ marathon (13.75 miles, as advertised) in Dunwich today. It was a relatively flat course for this trail series, but sand, mud and shrubbery meant it was tough going. Nick said he had never felt so tired after a half! He finished in 1:57:29 and Georgie in 2:11:19. Georgie was 19th female and Nick was 34th male so, they said, “We’ll take it!”
Parkrun Highlights 19th October 2019
It was a Spartan female one two at Stevenage and milestones galore this weekend.
Ashley KING was first female (20:14) and Gail MACKIE was second female (20:34) at Stevenage. Dean CARPENTER was the fastest Spartan this week also running at Stevenage. (19:21)
Mark COOKE (22:24) and Nick KLENATHOUS (25:08) both achieved new parkrun PB (personal bests).
Milestone runs were achieved by Martin BLACKBURN (10th), Matt CLARKE (40th), Paul JENNINGS (60th) and Nick KLEANTHOUS (70th).
(Parkrun results for all Spartans can be found near the end of this release).
Tables
All 46 Spartans at the Cheshunt Cross Country:
Position | Name | Time | M/F | Category | Comments |
10 | SIMON JACKSON | 28:58 | M | M40 | “MA” team |
25 | GRANT RAMSAY | 29:45 | M | M40 | “MA” team |
38 | CHRIS WESTCOTT | 30:05 | M | M40 | “MA” team |
59 | MARTIN BLACKBURN | 31:37 | M | SM | “MA” team |
61 | ADRIAN BUSOLINI | 31:41 | M | SM | “MA” team |
75 | DAN HUKIN | 31:51 | M | M40 | “MA” team |
77 | STUART ARCHER | 31:53 | M | SM | “MA” team |
110 | GAIL MACKIE | 33:29 | F | SW | “WA” team |
116 | ELLA-MAY HARDS | 33:40 | F | SW | “WA” team |
130 | ALISON WOOD | 34:26 | F | W45 | “WA” team |
169 | BRIAN WHITE | 35:54 | M | M60 | “MA” team |
176 | TOBY ECCLESHALL | 36:13 | M | SM | |
191 | DAVID PATTMAN | 36:49 | M | M40 | |
203 | YUKO GORDON | 37:10 | F | W65 | “WA” team |
212 | MARTIN WOOD | 37:26 | M | M50 | |
217 | MATT CLARKE | 37:59 | M | M40 | |
237 | NICK GILL | 38:14 | M | SM | |
252 | PAUL MAGUIRE | 39:26 | M | M50 | |
255 | STEVE DOBNER | 39:45 | M | M40 | |
257 | ANDREW SMITH | 39:45 | M | M40 | |
261 | RHIANNON GRIFFIN | 39:59 | F | SW | “WA” team |
296 | DARREN EMMERSON | 41:15 | M | M50 | |
301 | GEORGIE HOOPER | 41:18 | F | SW | “WB” team |
307 | NIGEL STRONGITHARM | 41:40 | M | M50 | |
311 | CLAIRE EMMERSON | 40:43 | F | W45 | “WB” team |
327 | ANDY JAY | 42:32 | M | M50 | |
331 | KELLY EVANS | 42:37 | F | SW | “WB” team |
334 | NICK KLEANTHOUS | 42:54 | M | M50 | |
347 | FIONA CLARKE | 43:33 | F | W35 | “WB” team |
349 | LUKE GURNEY | 43:35 | M | SM | |
359 | JIM BROWN | 43:58 | M | M60 | |
364 | ANN TRYSSESOONE | 44:31 | F | W45 | “WB” team |
367 | KAREN DODSWORTH | 44:55 | F | W55 | |
374 | SIMON SYPULA | 45:25 | M | SM | |
383 | JULIE SHADBOLT | 47:04 | F | W45 | |
407 | MARIAN MORLEY | 47:48 | F | W45 | |
421 | KEN JUDE | 49:38 | M | M50 | |
426 | VICKY ARCHER | 50:10 | F | W35 | |
431 | MONICA SMITHSON | 51:12 | F | W45 | |
435 | SOPHIE COWAN | 51:50 | F | W35 | |
436 | KAYLE WENDELL | 51:51 | F | W35 | |
437 | SUE HARMER | 51:52 | F | W45 | |
445 | SALLY PHILLIPS | 53:17 | F | W35 | |
446 | CALLIE CHAPMAN | 54:17 | F | W35 | |
452 | STEVE GOUGH | 55:39 | M | M40 | |
454 | TRACY STILES | 55:39 | F | W45 |
There were 462 finishers.
parkrun Saturday 19th October
Parkrun | Position | Gender | Parkrunner | Time | Notes |
Ellenbrook Fields | 66 | 7 | Kelly MCHALE | 24:28 | |
Gunpowder | 133 | 47 | Rowena RUTLEDGE | 31:25 | |
Jersey Farm | 133 | 50 | Tracy STILES | 35:14 | New venue |
Jersey Farm | 163 | 73 | Grace BROWN | 52:45 | |
Panshanger | 132 | 27 | Mo WARRILLOW | 28:31 | |
Stevenage | 7 | 7 | Dean CARPENTER | 19:21 | |
Stevenage | 13 | 1 | Ashley SCHOENWETTER | 20:14 | |
Stevenage | 16 | 2 | Gail MACKIE | 20:34 | |
Stevenage | 36 | 32 | Mark COOKE | 22:24 | PB |
Stevenage | 38 | 33 | Toby ECCLESHALL | 22:28 | |
Stevenage | 47 | 40 | Martin DUDLEY | 23:00 | |
Stevenage | 61 | 51 | Lee PICKERSGILL | 23:40 | |
Stevenage | 64 | 54 | Matt CLARKE | 23:48 | 40th |
Stevenage | 78 | 11 | Verity FISHER | 24:25 | |
Stevenage | 79 | 68 | Daniel SUTTON | 24:26 | |
Stevenage | 82 | 71 | Nigel STRONGITHARM | 24:30 | |
Stevenage | 95 | 83 | Nick KLEANTHOUS | 25:08 | 70th, PB |
Stevenage | 101 | 87 | Thomas SAUKA | 25:18 | |
Stevenage | 117 | 98 | Jim BROWN | 26:30 | |
Stevenage | 132 | 108 | Martin BLACKBURN | 26:59 | 10th |
Stevenage | 147 | 118 | Sam SIMMONS | 27:31 | |
Stevenage | 150 | 31 | Fiona CLARKE | 27:36 | |
Stevenage | 166 | 131 | David SCOTT | 28:45 | |
Stevenage | 174 | 38 | Sofia CARPENTER | 29:27 | |
Stevenage | 178 | 138 | Chris HOLLAND | 29:38 | |
Stevenage | 181 | 42 | Karen PALMER | 29:50 | |
Stevenage | 210 | 150 | David ACKERY | 30:58 | |
Stevenage | 231 | 157 | Paul JENNINGS | 32:11 | 60th |
Stevenage | 252 | 86 | Debbie BLANTERN | 33:45 | |
Stevenage | 325 | 134 | Caren THAIN | 44:48 | 30th |